Illuminated cautery electrode



Feb. 4, 1936. A. KLEINE ILLUMINATED CAUTERY ELECTRODE Filed Feb. 16, 1934 INVENTOR 0 Armldfi I I Patented Feb. 4, 1936 UNITED STATES Parser orslcr.

ILLUMINATED CAUTERY ELECTRODE Arnold Kleine, Flushing, N. Y., assigncr to Comprex Oscillator C'orp., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York My present invention relates generally to surgical instruments, and has particular reference to cautery electrodes.

It is a general object of my invention to pro- 5 vide a cautery electrode with an inexpensive,

compact, and efficient illuminating device to permit the cauterizing operation to be conducted under illumination.

The type of cautery electrode to which my invention refers consists essentially of two rigidly spaced conducting rods, with an operative cauterizing loop or similar electrode bridging the forward ends of the rods. At their rear ends the rods are adapted to be connected to the opposite 5 terminals of a suitable source of electric current, preferably and usually by removabiy associating these rear ends with a clamping device having two jaws or the like mutually insulated from each other and connected to the opposite terminals of the current source, respectively. A typical cautery electrode of this type is illustrated in Letters Patent No. 1,899,220, issued February 28, 1933.

One of the features of my invention lies in the provision of an arrangement which permits illumination to be effected without requiring recourse to a separate lamp tube or similar stem. The use of such a separate instrumentality is often unsatisfactory because it requires separate insertion into the cavity in which the cauterization is to be performed; and usually this requires, in turn, that an exterior endoscopic sheath be employed.

My invention is predicated upon a realization of the fact that the voltage of a cauterizing current is of such a small magnitude that the rods of the cautery electrode may, themselves, serve efficiently to conduct the current to a miniature electric lamp or similar illuminating device. Accordingly, my invention consists, briefly, in the combination of the conventional type of cautery electrode, with an illuminating device which is carried by the rods of the electrode near the forward ends of the rods and in a manner which electrically connects the illuminating device directly to the rods so as to shunt the device across the operative loop.

In a preferred embodiment, the illuminating device is so constructed and arranged that it may be removably applied to the rods of the cautery electrode. In this way, the present invention may be readily adapted to cautery electrodes that are already manufactured and in use; and the present type of illuminating device may be manufactured and sold as an attachment for the conventional type of cautery electrode.

56 In accordance with my invention, the illuminating device preferably consists of a lamp bulb,

a socket for the bulb, and a pair of conductive supports carried by the socket and engaging the rods of the electrode, respectively; the supports being mutually insulated from each other and 5 being in electrical connection, respectively, with the opposite socket terminals. Preferably, the supports are in the form of resilient conductive clips which permit the device to be readily snapped into and out of engagement with the elec- 10 trode rods.

I achieve the foregoing objects, and such other objects as may hereinafter appear or be pointed out, in the manner illustratively exemplified in the accompanyin drawing, wherein-- 16 Figure l is a'perspective Vi w of a cautery electrode equipped with an illuminating device of the present character;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the preferred form of illuminating device, shown by itself; 20

Figure 3 is a greatly enlarged longitudinal sectioi'i 'tl ii 'ough the illuminating device, showing the electrode rods in dot-and-dash lines; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 4i of Figure 1. 25

In the drawing, 1. have shown a typical cautery electrode consisting of the two parallel and rigidly spaced rods iii, with the V-shaped cauterizing loop or operative electrode ll bridging their forward ends. At the rear I have shown the rods 30 iii bent into a slightly increased spaced relationship and rigidly bound together by the braces l2 which are of suitable insulating material. The free rear ends it are adapted to be associated with a suitable handle or clamping device in any desired manner, e. g., in the manner disclosed in the aforementioned patent, this installation of the electrode serving to pass a low voltage current through the rods m and through the loop I I, thereby causing a heating of the latter.

The illuminating device which I have illustrated, and which is constructed in accordance with my invention, consists of the tubular metallic element hi having an interiorly threaded 45 bore at its forward end serving as the socket for the bulb it. The latter is preferably assembled in association with the metallic sleeve I6, during manufacture, and the sleeve it is provided with the rearwardly projecting threaded plug I1 50 adapted to be screw-threaded into engagement with the socket. The lateral sides of the plug l! are connected, in well known manner, with one end of the lamp filament; and the other end of the filament is connected to the central tap 3 on the rear end of the plug 17, this tap being insulated from the body of the plug H.

The socket terminals are composed, similarly, of the tubular element M itself (Which establishes connection with the side wall of the plug IT), and the center contact H! which lies at the base of the socket and is surrounded by the insulating sleeve 22. The contact i 5 is encountered by the central tap l 6 of the lamp when the latter is screwed into the socket.

A conductive rod 2! extends rearwardly from the contact l9 and is surrounded by the insulating sleeve 22 which maintains an insulated relationship between the two socket terminals.

In accordance with my invention, conductive supports 23 and 24 are carried by the lamp socket, the support 23 being in electrical connection with the socket terminal which is constituted by the sleeve 14, and the support 25 being in electrical connection with the socket terminal is. The latter electrical connection may be established in any suitable manner, as by soldering or similarly connecting the rear end of the rod 2! to the support 24.

It is to be noted that the supports 23 and 25 extend in opposite lateral directions, and the reason for this is that one of the supports is designed to engage over one or the rods it while the other support is adapted to engage over the other rod 5 B. A preferred mode of construction consists in forming the supports 23 and 24, at their ends, in the form of semi-circular resilient clips which may be snapped into and out of engagement with the rods IG, thereby establishing a firm but removable frictional engagement and contact between the rods lfil and the opposite socket terminals.

It is important, of course, that the sleeve Id and the other portions of the socket in electrical connection therewith be maintained out of contact with the electrode wire with which the support 24 engages. This is preferably accomplished by associating the supports with the lamp device in the manner illustrated in the drawing, whereby the lamp assumes a position more closely adjacent to one of the rods than to the other. This manner of mounting the device has the added advantage of not interfering with the air gap between the rods Hl, this gap being a desirable thing from the standpoint of heat dissipation.

Obviously, the manner of constructing the present supports may be varied by those skilled in the art. The device illustrated, for example, need not be constructed so as to permit a resilient snapping and unsnapping of the supports with respect to the electrode rods. The device may be applied and removed from the cautery electrode by an endwise movement over the front end of the electrode.

The advantage or" the device lies in its extreme simplicity and the ease with which it may be associated with the cautery electrode. It is to be noted that the lamp socket and lamp bulb constitute a cylindrical assembly having an overall diameter substantially no greater than the diameter of either of the rods 58. By arranging for the association of this cylindrical illuminating device with the electrode rods in a manner which arranges the device close to one of the rods, and parallel thereto, a compact instrumentality results which is readily insertable into most of the body cavities in which cauterization is to be performed. From this aspect, the invention is not restricted to the removable nature of the illuminating device; and it will be obvious that, if desired, the

device may be made a permanent part of the electrode assembly.

The outstanding and advantageous characteristic of the present device and assembly lies in the fact that the illuminating instrumentality is straddled across the electrode rods, simultaneously deriving mechanical support therefrom and electrical current for operating the lamp.

In general, it will be understood that changes in the details, herein described and illustrated for the purpose of explaining the nature of my invention, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims. It is, therefore, intended that these details be interpreted as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, and illustrated its use, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is-- 1. An illuminating device for a cautery electrode in which a pair of rigidly spaced conducting rods have an operative cauterizing loop bridging their forward ends, said device comprising a lamp bulb, a socket for the bulb, and means for mounting the socket closely alongside of said rods with its axis parallel to said rods and in shunted electrical relation to said rods; said means comprising a pair of conductive supports carried by said socket and adapted to engage said rods, respectively, and means for connecting supports in mutually insulated relation to the socket terminals, respectively.

2. An illuminating device for a cautery electrode in which a pair of rigidly spaced conduct- :1"

ing rods have an operative cauterizing loop bridging their forward ends, said device comprising a lamp bulb, a socket for the bulb, and means for mounting the socket closely alongside of said rods with its axis parallel to said rods and in shunted electrical relation to said rods; said means comprising a pair of conductive supports carried by said socket and adapted to removably engage said rods, respectively, and means for connecting said supports in mutually insulated relation to the socket terminals, respectively.

3. An illuminating device for a cautery electrode in which a pair of rigidly spaced conducting rods have an operative cauterizing loop bridging their forward ends, said device comprising a lamp 7 bulb, a socket for the bulb, and means for mounting the socket closely alongside of said rods with its axis parallel to said rods and in shunted electrical relation to said rods; said means comprising a pair of resilient clips carried by said socket and adapted to be removably engaged around said rods, respectively, and means for connecting said clips in mutually insulated relation to the socket terminals, respectively.

4. An illuminating device for a cautery electrode in which a pair of rigidly spaced conducting rods have an operative cauterizing loop bridging their forward ends, said device comprising a lamp bulb, a socket for the bulb, and means for mounting the socket closely alongside of said rods with its axis parallel to said rods and in shunted electrical relation to said rods; said means comprising a conductive support connected to one socket terminal and adapted to engage around one of said rods, a second conductive support 

